Prince Siddhartha’s father wanted to keep him protected from the outside world, for fear of his taking up a religious calling and neglecting the kingdom. So he kept him enclosed in various luxurious palaces and kept him distracted with all those things that gratify human beings. But according to legend the prince ventured out at age twenty-nine and in sequence saw the “four messengers.” First he saw an old man, bent over (aging), a very sick person (illness), and a corpse in the street (death). He had not seen these things before, and it awakened him to dimensions of life from which he had been protected. The fourth messenger was a wandering ascetic or yogi, heir to the ancient Indian meditative tradition, who the prince saw to be calm, at peace, and quite fulfilled–despite the presence of aging, illness and death. The entire experience was a shock to prince Siddhartha; it stirred him up, and put into question how he had been living his entire live thus far.
It may be that all of us have a tendency to ignore these “messengers” as we seek to remain gratified by pleasures and short-term fulfillments. And yet paying attention to the realities of aging, sickness, and death can help us to get our existential priorities straight. Just how are we living? To what do we apportion our time? What is it that we value? What are we doing with our brief time here on this planet? Heeding the message of our own mortality can awaken us to practice as it did the young prince who became the Buddha. The fourth messenger holds out the promise of finding truth and liberation–even in a world that is inherently unsatisfactory, constantly changing, and devoid of an abiding essence. Security can be found amidst the sorrows if we follow a path of personal integrity, of mental development, and of insight into the very nature of our experience. The practice of insight meditation, in the appropriate context, is an integral part of this path.
This fall at CIMC Larry Rosenberg will introduce a practice group entitled “Conscious aging as Dharma Practice,” a program based upon Theravada Buddhism’s “Five Subjects for Frequent Reflection.” In focusing explicit attention on aging, illness and death, Larry will attempt to fill a gap in dharma practice in the West. Many of us mention these themes as we talk about dukkha, anicca, and anatta, but rarely do we focus directly on any of these themes for extended or sustained contemplation. This reflection is meant to be part of a balanced approach to practice which has sila, samadhi and panna at its core.
In addition to regular sitting and walking, the new practice group will include formal meditations touching upon various aspects of the five subjects for frequent reflection. Also, the natural events of daily life provide us with rich material to explore these very same themes, such as noticing signs of our own personal aging and the emotions evoked by such perceptions.
A number of benefits can come from such a practice group: One of these is seeing th preciousness of life–this can help clarify our priorities like nothing else. Since we don’t have forever, how do we want to use our brief stay on this planet? We are also given an opportunity to work with and weaken the fear that can arise when we are reminded of our aging and death. Moreover, as the Buddha points out, the pride that some of us have in being young, robust, healthy and long-lived can be diminished. Finally, for a vipassana yogi, there is the emergence of samvega–seeing the urgent need to practice which grows out of a heightened sense of the perishable nature of our life.
We are not so different from the prince Siddhartha, also having elaborate ways of denying harsh truths. Yet with clarity and awareness, life and death can walk hand in hand. Can we also step outside the palace walls?
